Sep 22 07

September 22, 2007

I had a wonderful birthday today. Thanks so much to all who called and sent lovely gifts and cards. What a great family I have. Of course you have to be nice to me, now that I’m such and OLD lady!

We managed to waste the whole day, although it was a challenge in Gallup. There’s not a whole lot to do there. We didn’t even spend any money. We found a “mall”, but it wasn’t any place that would tempt us to blow our savings.

It was nice not to be in a hurry all day. It seems every time we go somewhere we’re in a rush. But today we got up when we felt like it, then spent and hour and a half eating breakfast at Hampton Inn, and then just continued to meander through the day. Finally we had lunch at Cracker Barrel and came back.

We did go to Old Town Gallup and discovered that the Indians from India are the main shopkeepers for the stores selling Navajo and Hopi artwork. We found some beautiful sand paintings, but they were more money than we wanted to spend.

And we went to Wal-Mart to buy Maxine Bonito a birthday present. What a nightmare! We thought the Wal-Mart in Show Low was crazy, but this one was even worse. We think the entire Navajo Nation was there. I bought one item and it took at least 30 minutes just to get through the check stand.

Now it’s 7:40 PM and we’re home. Thursday after we reported our break-in to the FM group Bill and Shawn came right down and installed a screen door on the back door of the trailer. That was so sweet of them and, truly, we hate to complain. The only problem is that now the back door and the screen door both open the same direction. So if the screen door is locked, you can’t get the back door open to get out the screen door. If there was a fire we’d have to run through the flames to get out the front door. It is possible to open the little window in the door, take off the screen, unlock the screen door, open both doors and get out the back. We think if there’s a fire tonight it would be quicker to just throw the TV through the bedroom window and jump. Anyway, the FM group is well-intentioned, but often gives us a good chuckle.

Someone did try to get in while we were gone. The screen on the front room window by the porch was bent. The screen in the Elders’ bedroom was hanging loose and the screen on the bathroom window had been popped off. Robert had put extra metal blocks in our windows so none of the windows would slide open. That and the new screen door probably saved us from another problem. We’re quite sure the FM guys will come next week and put bars over the windows.